A month back Tomaz Humar completed a new route on Annapurna, climbing the mountain solo and in alpine style. Since the news broke, there have been many in the climbing community who have wanted to know more about the climb, despite a debrief already being released. To clear up the confusion, ExWeb has taken a closer look at the route that Humar used to go to the top.
Some of the questions circulating around the climb are in regards to whether or not this actually was a new route or if Tomaz used the Polish Route from back in 1987. The article notes that Humar is not known to exaggerate his exploits or lie about his accomplishments, so his reports are being taken on face value, although he is remaining a bit media shy at the moment. They do conclude however, that he took a new route to the top of Annapurna that was almost completely independent of the Polish Route, or the lesser known Trommsdorff route, each of which go up the South Side of the mountain.
The article goes on to discuss the challenges of climbing Annapurna's South Face, and the various approaches to that summit from that direction. The climb is also compared to others in the region, and other 8000m peaks, which saw very few summits this Fall. Because Humar went solo and climbed in alpine style, his accomplishment is seen as one of the better climbs of the year, or perhaps the past few years.
While the article doesn't shed a ton of new light on the specifics of the route, it does help to put in perspective what Tomaz accomplished. Annapurna is not a mountain for the feint of heart, and to go up it alone, carrying all your gear, it a pretty impressive feat.
No comments:
Post a Comment